PORT CLINTON – With one touch of their finger, students at Port Clinton Middle School can look inside the White House.

That is exactly what students were doing while in Ryan Evarts’ Fleet 6 social studies class on Thursday.

In his first year at Port Clinton, Evarts said he wanted to gear his lesson plans to cater to a new form of learning. Instead of spinning a globe and unraveling a map of the world, he said it was important to use the technology to go beyond the map.

“Right now we are working with geography,” Evarts said. “We are learning about Geographic Information Systems. Today we are learning about modern GIS and being able use Google Earth on the iPads, and zoom in on different locations.”

During his modern GIS lesson, Evarts had students place icons over buildings. Once the icon was dropped in, a view of the street or building filled their screen.

“They’re finding different places in the world by using a modern type of topography and maps,” he added.

Evarts said advancement in technology has changed the way social studies and geography are taught. Now students can type in coordinates of part of the world, and within a minute, have a complete 360-degree view of the location. He said this tool helps students when learning about different cultures and what cities around the world look like.

“We can drop ourselves in India or China, and that is nothing that we could think about doing five years ago,” noted Evarts. “You can see a picture in a book, but if you are able to drop yourself in there with a 360-degree view of where you are at, it feels like you’re there and it engages them.”

Students have been engaged during the lesson. While filling out a worksheet, Evarts said the students get to do the activity with a partner. He said many of his students saw inside the White House for the first time. When students saw the inside of the White House, Evarts said they immediately started looking for the Oval Office. The excitement was so prevalent, he said he had to refocus their attention.

“I like the fact that we get to do it with the iPad,” said Sam Nickloy of using maps.

Marcus Shobe said using the iPad for mapping helps him find things faster. He said the technology is not just about speed.